Of Moonlight and Scones
by likefiction
Summary: "It's okay," he said again with a slight grin, although his voice was getting weaker with every syllable. "I don't bite." Marauder era oneshot.


_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

It had been half an hour since the teachers had left him there, sitting in the ruins of the shack and waiting for the moon. He knew that it would happen eventually, even on a cloudy night like tonight; the moon always broke through. He just had to wait.

Remus Lupin hated waiting.

He stretched, feeling his joints itching unbearably, as they did every month before there was enough moonlight. He heard scuffling, but ignored it. The various vermin which inhabited the shack had long since learned to stay away from him.

A rat ran across the floor, grey fur catching the first flash of moonlight. Remus stood up and stepped into the silvery patch on the floor. There was no point prolonging the wait any longer. He felt the stabbing pain as his body began to change at the same time as he heard voices, and he turned to see two dark-haired teenage boys and a third, smaller boy, in the corner of the room.

They came.

James stepped forward as Remus doubled over, his spine cracking and bending. "Remus-"

Remus flung out an arm towards him, his hand already compacting into a paw, fingers stretching into claws. "Get ba- _aaahhhhhh_!" His voice changed as he spoke, going from a shout to a scream to a howl. He fell to his knees, then collapsed to his side, feeling new joints clicking into place. He could hear somebody shouting something (a warning?), but it was drowned out by the agony of his skull lengthening and narrowing, sharp teeth pushing through his gums. He screamed again, and heard the shriek echo through the shack. His vision went black, then paled to shades of grey.

And then he was the wolf.

He stood on all fours, tossing his head back to howl. He could smell other creatures on the air, which was new. He turned, snarling, and his eyes fell on a small rat darting across the floor. His paw shot out, catching the creature by the tip of the tail, before something slammed into his side. Distracted, he turned to face his attacker. A black dog, almost the same size as him, growled from across the room. With another howl, the wolf leapt towards it, claws extended. Before he could get close, something else pushed him back. A deer, a stag, antlers pressed against his stomach until he was tossed against the wall.

The wolf snarled, rising to stand on his hind legs. The dog and the stag circled him. There was no sign of the rat. The dog barked, and the wolf lunged forward. His claws sank into the black fur, and a high-pitched yelp rang through the shack before he was knocked back by the stag. The wolf howled, clawing at his face, his chest, in a manner which was almost human.

And so it went on until the moon sank, hours later, and the wolf crawled to a corner and Remus Lupin collapsed, blood streaming from a hundred cuts and gashes. The stag and dog exchanged glances, before shifting back into teenage boys dressed in a mix of jeans and pyjamas.

"You can come out now, Peter," Sirius murmured, clamping a hand over the claw marks in his side. There was a squeak from behind a battered sofa before Peter crawled out from under it.

"Is he okay?" he whispered, pointing to Remus's collapsed form in the corner. James knelt down beside his friend, taking his wrist to check for a pulse.

"He's alive," he reported. "Bleeding pretty badly, though." He rummaged in his pocket for a minute, producing a small bottle. "Here we go. Dittany."

"Where'd you get that?" Sirius asked in interest.

"Nicked it last time I was in the hospital wing, didn't I?" James replied, flashing them a cocky grin as he pulled the stopper out.

Peter frowned. "When were you in the-"

He broke off as Remus groaned. James backed away reflexively, watching the other boy shift until one eye flickered open.

"It's okay," Remus said hoarsely, slowly propping himself up on one elbow. He looked across the room at his friends, checking that the blood on the floor wasn't theirs. "It's okay," he said again with a slight grin, although his voice was getting weaker with every syllable. "I don't bite."

For once, every single boy was completely silent.

Remus frowned as he noticed the way Sirius was holding his side. "Sirius?" He tried to sit up properly, but failed.

"It's just a scratch," Sirius said quickly, taking his hand away to check. "Well. Ish."

"Let me see," James said, shoving the other boy's hand away. He hissed in a breath through his teeth. "Bloody _hell_ , Sirius."

"What happened?" Remus asked. His face paled as James and Sirius exchanged glances. "Oh. No. No no no no _no_." He covered his face with his hands, ignoring the blood smearing over his skin. "I'm so sorry, Sirius."

Sirius winced as James dripped a little dittany onto the wound, then grinned. "It's okay, Remus. I'm fine. See?" He tugged up his shirt, showing a faded pink scar. Remus relaxed for a second, then jolted upright as another thought struck him.

"I didn't... I didn't bite any of you, did I?"

All three of them shook their heads, and Remus sighed in relief. "What about you?" James asked, moving forwards, the bottle of dittany in his hand. "You're bleeding pretty badly, Remus."

He made to put the medicine on one of the worst gashes, but Remus shook his head. "Don't. The teachers'll be coming soon, and they'll be suspicious if I'm not hurt. I'm usually worse than this as it is," he added, looking down at his torn and bloodstained pyjamas.

James frowned, but stashed the bottle away in his pocket again. "It's around four in the morning," he said.

Remus nodded. "You should go," he said. "If the teachers find you you'll get in trouble."

"That's nothing new," Sirius scoffed. "They wouldn't let us do this again though. Now that would be a problem."

James nodded. Peter looked terrified, but nodded anyway. Remus stared at them. "You can't be serious."

"Nope, that's just me," Sirius joked.

Remus ignored him. "You can't come again! I could hurt you, or kill you, or worse!"

James raised an eyebrow. "Remus, mate, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to handle you. We did fine tonight, didn't we?"

"Yes, but..." Remus winced, pressing a hand to one of the cuts on his chest. "I don't want to hurt any of you." He gestured to the scar on Sirius's side in frustration. "I..." He coughed, hunching over, and drew in a shuddering breath.

"Go. We'll talk later."

"I don't want to leave you like this," Peter said quietly.

Remus managed a grin. "I'll be fine. Promise."

* * *

Barely a day later, the three boys somehow managed to wheedle their way into the hospital wing. They made straight for the bed at the far end, where Remus was sitting reading a book, looking almost normal aside from the bandages.

"Hey, Remus."

Remus nearly dropped the book as James bounced down onto the end of the bed, Sirius flopping down beside him while Peter clambered up awkwardly.

"What are you guys doing here?" he hissed, hurriedly stuffing a bookmark into place and setting the book down.

Sirius reached for a tray he'd placed on the floor beside the bed, whisking the cloth off with a flourish.

Remus stared at a tray of scones, complete with jam and cream, in astonishment. "You... brought me scones? How..."

James shrugged. "Remember Effie, the little house elf who had a crush on Peter?"

Peter squawked in protest and tried to throw Remus's book at the other boy. "She did not!"

James ignored him. "Anyway, she told him- fine, _us_ \- where the kitchens were, and to come at any time we wanted."

Sirius picked up a scone and pushed it towards Remus. "Go on."

Remus took the scone gratefully, and James folded his arms, sitting up as straight as he could manage. "Now, down to business." He reached for a scone and took a bite, gesturing for Sirius to continue.

"We feel that last night was an unqualified success, and plan to repeat the endeavour next month," Sirius said in a ridiculously official-sounding tone.

Remus choked on his scone. "No! You can't do that! I- I could hurt you, or kill you, or worse!"

Sirius shushed him, an amused grin playing across his face. "Remus, you have jam on your nose. Forgive me if I'm not cowering in fear."

While Remus scrubbed at his nose furiously, James cleared his throat. "Now, next order of business. When discussing Remus's... furry little problem, we shall refer to ourselves by the following monikers."

"Monikers?" Sirius snorted. James elbowed him in the ribs.

"Sirius shall be Padfoot, I shall be Prongs, and Remus and Peter will be Moony and Wormtail respectively."

"Wormtail?" Peter protested, at the same time as Remus shook his head in despair.

"Furry little... James, I swear to god..."

"So, we're agreed, then?" James said brightly, just as Madame Pomfrey came towards them, finger raised threateningly.

"We're just leaving!" Sirius called, somehow stuffing the empty tray into his bag without being noticed.

"Hope you feel better soon, Remus," Peter said, brushing crumbs off his robes nervously.

"See you later, Moony," James whispered with a smirk.

Remus rolled his eyes and picked up his book again.


End file.
